Neon signs and neon art are becoming increasingly popular for both commercial and domestic use…
After all, there is only one type of neon. Glass tubes that are hand bent to a design, offering a unique way to create both art pieces or neon signs, fully recyclable, long lasting and versatile.
Neon can brighten up an office space or provide a soft glow for your home. Whether it’s business or pleasure, take a look at five handy tips on how to work neon into your décor, whether it be your premises or your home.
A great interior design tip, which is becoming very popular, especially with today’s ‘minimalist’ interior approach, is pairing neon colours with neutral colours. If you want to add some excitement into your space, a neutral-coloured room is a perfect backdrop for some bold pops of colour, so let your neon take centre stage whilst the rest of your room is calm and subdued.
Whether it be a craft room, a play room or your child’s bedroom, they’re great places to have a play around and experiment with colour, without having to be too serious. In the work place, breakout areas are a good place to start spreading your neon cheer.
The key to having neon is knowing just how to effectively utilise the effect in the space you are placing it. A mass of colour and complexity in a small area can sometimes be confusing to the eye and cause an effect that is the opposite of what you intend. Likewise, neon that is too understated or spread out over a large space can disappear in the background and not draw the attention you need to your area.
If you are looking to wind things down rather than liven them up, neon can still be a great addition to your space. With the ability to dim the light, neon can be used in a variety of forms as mood lighting or even as a night light for a child that then operates as a room decoration as they grow.
Creating your own neon signage, not just adds a personal touch to your space, but also allows you to incorporate a creative flare into your home, office or commercial building.
We hope you found this post helpful? Check out more of our neon articles here. And please drop us a line if you’d like to chat about any of the details we’ve covered or to find out more about how our variety of neon signs can help your business.
With people spending unprecedented amounts of time in their homes during the past 12 months (thanks to lockdown) it’s not surprising there’s been a real upsurge in domestic neon purchases.
Whether bringing life to a games room, a ‘man cave’ or a child’s bedroom – more and more people are turning to neon to bring some colour and life into their homes.
After all a neon sign is a great way to add some colour and fun into your abode.
Neon is an incredibly versatile light source. Able to be dimmed, or flashed, it is more than capable of fitting into any environment around the house from being used as mood lighting within a living room or dining area to a more animated style.
If you want to make the most out of your neon, you will most likely want to have it displayed in an area where you can show it off on a regular basis. If you are looking to simply add a bit of colour to your home, then straight sections of neon are ideal to be placed either around your ceiling, or in a cove to have the warmth radiate out into the room.
Alternatively, a neon sign is a great gift for a child’s room and when equipped with a dimmer, can serve both as a nightlight for a younger child or a great keepsake as they grow into adulthood
Recently converted one of your spare rooms into a game’s room or man cave? Or simply looking to liven up a room you spend a lot of time in with guests? Neon draws the eye in a welcoming manner, the light is easy on the eyes and is guaranteed to be a talking point with your guests.
If you are throwing a party, a neon sign is the perfect centrepiece. With flashing capabilities, you can draw the attention of anyone in the room. Alternatively, if you are looking to have a quiet evening with a few friends, the dimming option of neon helps create a nice calm relaxing environment in which to entertain.
Whatever the intended purpose, a neon sign will be remembered by your guests.
As with many things, the hardest choice is often not whether to have something or not, but rather what to have. Your imagination is the limit with neon. With each tube being bent by hand, almost any font style or design is achievable.
Whether you have a design in mind, only have a rough idea or have no idea at all, here at A1deSIGNS we can help make your neon dream come true.
The evolution of neon has been an interesting one. First used as a tool for experiments in laboratories it was then discovered as a method of lighting and subsequently signage – with its unique ability to draw the eye.
Its use within signage began at the heights of society due to its price tag, before its red light became synonymous within less reputable city areas.
However, when the possibility of alternative colours was discovered, neon changed once more into not just a way of advertising but an art form – creating stunning, memorable visuals… not only for marketing but for decorative purposes too.
As experts and lovers of all things neon, we at A1deSIGNS, give you 5 reasons why we feel neon has become popular…
Though neon’s trademark colour is red, with the assistance of powdered tubes, there is now a range of other colours available, meaning that signs can be made to compliment a brand or add a burst of colour into a room.
– Unlike other traditional sources of illumination, neon glows, rather than lighting up. Because of this, the effect is always pleasant on the eye, as opposed to being too bright.
Neon tubes are available in a variety of diameters and because it is hand bent, it means that almost any style that uses a consistent stroke width can be ‘neonised’.
You really can’t miss it. Business owners and marketing managers want their stores to be seen and neon is one of the best ways of achieving this.
Neon really is an art. You only have to look at some of the examples here to see for yourself how easy it is on the eye.
We hope you found this post helpful? Check out more of our neon articles here. And please drop us a line if you’d like to chat about any of the details we’ve covered or to find out more about how our variety of neon signs can help your business.
There is only one type of neon. Glass tubes that are hand bent to a design, offering a unique way to create both art pieces or neon signs, fully recyclable, long lasting and versatile, neon offers an unrivalled way to liven up any space
Neon was first discovered in its elemental form in 1898. In less than 20 years it was used not just as a scientific tool, but as a product. The first demonstration of neon in a modern form was in December 1910, by a man called Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show, who displayed two 12 metre long tubes filled with the gas.
From that point, the world has been fascinated with neon and its popularity and uses have evolved over the many years.
At A1deSIGNS, we sure do love our neon so we thought we’d put together a list of 5 interesting facts about neon (at least to us, anyway).
Hope you enjoy…
One of the lesser known neon facts is that there is only one colour for neon. When you fill a clear tube with pure neon gas, it lights up a reddish-orange colour and is that warm glow that is often thought of when neon is mentioned. To obtain other colours, there are a variety of methods used that include powder coated tubes, combining neon with other noble gases such as Argon, or even using coloured glass tubes. In some cases, all of the above are done to achieve some of the most vibrant colours you will see.
Earlier this year, in January 2017, a neon sign sold for $48,300 at a auction night in Maine, USA, the sign was from the legendary Los Angeles rock club, ‘Whisky a Go Go’ and 13ft long.
Having unique properties means that neon has many uses in everyday life, it’s used in advertising signs, vacuum tubes, wave meter tubes, lighting arrestors, high voltage indicators, television tubes, plasma tubes and helium-neon lasers. Nowadays liquid neon is commercially available and used as cryogenic refrigerant, so it’s not just common on the streets of Las Vegas, it’s in your home as well!
Neon gets its name from the Greek word ‘neos’ which means new.
Even though electrodes and most glass tubes are prefabricated, neon lighting is still a handmade art and creators use blow torches to heat glass tubes before bending them into place and sealing them together.
We hope you found this post helpful? Check out more of our neon articles here. And please drop us a line if you’d like to chat about any of the details we’ve covered or to find out more about how our variety of neon signs can help your business.
As specialists in neon manufacture we get many enquiries in regards to neon signs for people’s homes. Neon can be a great feature in a home, providing a warm glow that can create a perfect atmosphere in a living room, or look great in a kitchen, hall way or bedroom.
There are a few things to note in regards to neon signs in general:
With that being said, Neon signs can be an incredible feature for your home. We have made and installed many signs for use in the home, below are a few examples.
Customers ask for a variety of different signs for their kitchen; some want a particular phrase that they like, others want something a single word to do with food or eating. One of the stranger but more fun projects we have worked on for a kitchen though was an amalgamation of the London skyline.
Using a variety of colours, we made a sign that had the London Eye, the gherkin, Big Ben and some other well-known landmarks. We mounted directly to the wall, and particular care had to be taken as it was positioned around an existing TV.
We spend a lot of time in our kitchens, with many also serving as dining rooms and a good-looking neon sign is a great addition to that environment.
Bedrooms are ideal locations for neon signs. The warm glow of a neon, added with the capability for dimming, allows for great mood lighting when needed and a unique piece of decoration during the day.
With Bedrooms used for more than just sleeping in this modern age, a neon sign can really make the room feel like your space. Perhaps you stream inside your bedroom, why not have a neon sign of your handle? If your bedroom is used as your primary living area, for example if you live in a rented room in a larger house, then a neon sign can help make that change from ‘bedroom’ space to ‘entertaining space’.
As a standard, a neon sign for inside your house is made to be put up on the wall and left alone. Whether this is a tray panel, or clear acrylic case with keyholes that sits flush to the wall, a flat acrylic panel that stands off the wall with peg fixings, or even neon mounted directly onto the wall using tube supports.
However, a neon sign to hang on a wall is not the only option. We can also make your neon sign freestanding, so you can move it from room to room. If the situation calls for it, we can even make the sign so that it is suspended from a ceiling.
All in all, a neon sign for the home is a great piece to invest in. It can help bring new life to a room, transforming it with a vibrant but warm glow that helps really make a house a home.
We hope you found this post helpful? Check out more of our neon articles here. And please drop us a line if you’d like to chat about any of the details we’ve covered or to find out more about how our variety of neon signs can help your business.
N.B. – All references to Neon within this document unless stated otherwise are in regards to the real glass neon product, not any LED alternatives.
One topic people ask us about a lot when enquiring about neon signs is their use externally. Questions such as:
The versatility of neon means that the answers to these questions are often the opposite of what people believe when asking. Below is a comprehensive Q&A that should shed some light on the potential of Neon signs.
This is quite an open question with various different points to consider, based on your specific needs. However, the short answer is yes, neon signs can be used outside as long as you have been provided with the right transformer. All neon glass is suitable for use outside, if you live in a particularly cold area (North Scotland for example) then you may need your tubes pumped with a certain mixture of gas, but generally the only thing deciding the sign’s use is the transformer it comes with.
Neon signs are usually pumped with either pure Neon, pure Argon or a mixture of the two. These give you all the different colours you normally in a neon sign.
When a sign is going outside, it would be pumped with either pure Neon or a mixture of Argon and neon. This mixture allows for the sign to operate in the majority of temperatures here in the UK.
If your sign is going to be exposed to particularly harsh weather, then it will need to be pumped with a different combination of gas, with a higher ratio of Neon to Argon.
Put simply though, your neon sign will withstand anything the Great British weather throws at it.
The gas inside a Neon sign will not freeze. If water is on the outside of a tube and is exposed to a cold enough temperature, then this can freeze and can potentially damage / break the sign.
However, provided a sign is kept running it should generate enough heat at the electrodes to keep the gas ignited and should help prevent the tubes from becoming cold enough to allow ice to form.
Provided a neon sign is manufactured and installed correctly, there is no reason why your neon sign would get too hot from being on.
There is not any ambient temperature, under normal weather circumstances, that would cause a neon tube to stop working. The temperature they reach when being made and bombarded far exceeds their operating temperature and the temperature that they are placed in.
In fact, the main part of a Neon sign that affected by excessive heat is the transformer. It is recommended to keep transformer(s) away from direct sunlight where possible and with as much airflow as possible, to prevent the temperature around them building up.
Provided the transformer is functioning, there should be no temperature, especially not in the UK, that is too high for a neon sign.
As with any electrical item, it is better to keep it away from water where possible. Neon is also high voltage which means that extra care should be taken around it. However despite what many people believe and despite the picture the first two statements paint, Neon signs are perfectly safe to be used outside in the rain, provided they are supplied with the correct equipment and installed correctly.
The glass itself is safe to touch when wet, even when on, but you should not touch any connection between glass and wire, whether wet or not.
If the sign is being made for external use, then the glass bender will usually make it so that the electrodes point up. This then means that when the electrode sleeves are placed over the glass -> cable connection, the sleeve sits over the top and water would not be able to gather inside and damage the connection over time.
We hope this answers some of your questions. If you’d like to chat about any of the details we’ve covered or to find out more about how our variety of neon solutions can help your business, please drop us a line.
Check out more of our neon articles here.